I’m sorry, but that is a really silly thing of that lecturer to say. They bin any submission featuring a word like ‘soon’ or ‘then’ or ‘yesterday’? Any page that offers any information about any of the verbs used there? Really?

Thanks, Suzanne. A huge part of getting better as a writer is learning to trust what works best for your own voice. That’s going to vary from one writer to another, and even one project to another.

I’ll stress again: it’s impossible to write without adverbs because verbs always need modifying in some dimension, even if it’s not by manner (the ly words).

Yes. Although a period of mimicking authors whom you admire is a stage a lot of writers go through, and it can help you learn good practice. I know I tried to be Nick Hornby for a while! As you say, the secret is to move beyond, and towards your own voice.

re: There are rules and rules. You need to know where to put a full stop and a capital letter. You don’t need anyone telling you how to develop your own style, in my opinion.

Agreed. I think either you develop your own style (aka voice) or you are forever mimicking others’, which drowns out your own over time.

Indeed!

Yes, I was nonplussed when I came across it. I think it’s either a clumsy attempt to say ‘Vary your sentence construction’ – which of course is fair enough – or it’s a twisted version of the rule about avoiding the passive tense, where some people mix up that tense with stative (ie non-action) verbs like was, seem, appear. Or it may be an aversion to the past imperfect and continuous present. Who knows? These things are rarely explained, and never in grammatical terms.

There are rules and rules. You need to know where to put a full stop and a capital letter. You don’t need anyone telling you how to develop your own style, in my opinion.